Bedtime Stories
by LilyBelleMichele188
Summary: Victoria Gold is now three years old and has her Papa wrapped around her little finger. Especially when it comes to their bedtime ritual. I own nothing but Victoria.


(Another Once Upon A Time one-shot about my OC Victoria. Hope you enjoy)

...

It was getting on towards nine o clock when Mr. Gold reached the home of Granny and Ruby.

It had been a long night. What with rent collecting and Regina coming to him for yet another request, the pawnbroker was quite glad to be done for the night.

All he had to look forward to now was taking his darling little girl home and putting her straight to bed after giving her her bath of course. A ritual which always included Victoria's most favorite thing in the world.

"And they all lived happily ever after." Granny finished, smiling as she softly closed the covers of the book she was reading to her little charge.

Victoria smiled and set down the crayon she was using before rolling over into a sitting position on the floor.

"Read it again, Granny! I like this story!" She begged, causing an amused smile to spread across Granny's aged face.

"Not tonight, Pumpkin. Your Father's here to take you home. Lets get your things together, shall we?" She set the book aside and stood to gather Victoria's belongings while Mr. Gold approached his daughter.

"I'm here, Love. Ready to go home now?" He asked hopefully while pausing to see what Victoria was drawing with the new crayons he had just bought her yesterday.

"Papa!" The eager toddler jumped up from the floor, her artwork forgotten as she gave her Father a tight loving embrace around the knees her baby blanket in her arms as always.

Gold smiled despite the stinging in his bad leg. "Hello. Did you have fun with Granny today?" He asked, patting her long golden hair with his free hand.

Victoria looked up adoringly at her guardian. "Granny read me story!" She answered, letting go of her Papa's knees just long enough to grab the picture she had been working on before.

"So I see!" Gold nodded as Victoria held up her drawing to him. "Is that for me? Did you draw this for your Papa, Victoria?" He asked, taking the picture from his daughter's outstretched hand.

"Uh huh." Victoria nodded her head. "That you!" She pointed to a barely discernable drawing of a man with long scraggly hair and a cane. "And that's me!" She squealed obviously pleased with her work.

"Well how thoughtful of you!" Gold smiled and tucked the drawing into his jacket pocket carefully folding it into fourths. "I'll have to find a good place for it." He winked making Victoria giggle at him amusedly.

"Okay Victoria, everything's inside Teddy. Do you have your blankie?" Granny smiled as she walked over carrying Victoria's teddy bear backpack to her.

The girl turned eagerly to grab her belongings not noticing how quickly Granny's smile faded when she made eye contact with Gold. "Yay! Teddy!" She stretched out her arms.

Mr. Gold wordlessly pulled an envelope from his left hand pocket and set it on the table before reaching to take his daughter's hand in his own.

"Say goodbye, Victoria." He prompted quietly. Victoria grabbed his hand. "Bye Bye Granny." She waved smiling sweetly at her kindly babysitter.

Granny waved back. "Goodnight Victoria. See you next time." She cracked a smile for the little girl. Mr. Gold nodded his head at her.

"Come along. It's time to get you to bed." He led her out the door, making sure to close the door quietly after himself.

...

"Again! Again!" Victoria chortled as her Papa stopped tickling her just like he always did right before bed. Gold shook his head at her regretfully.

"No, that's enough for tonight Sweetheart. It's getting to be way past your bedtime and you have to be up early if you want to go to the shop with me tomorrow." He patted her head then proceeded to tuck her in under the sheets.

Victoria sat up in bed. "Read me a story first." She pleaded and as usual Gold found her pleas hard to resist. "Darling, you already had a story today. At Granny's, don't you remember?" He tried to tuck her in again.

Victoria shook her head. "But I want you to read to me, Papa." She insisted, putting on her sad face. "Please? Just one?"

Gold stifled a sigh. "Those little eyes get me every time." He grumbled good humoredly of course as he got up from the bed to select a story from his daughter's small bookshelf.

Victoria crawled out of the covers. "Read me the love you story, Papa." She begged. Gold stifled a chuckle.

"That one again? All right." He pulled the old dog-eared paperback from the shelf and hobbled back across the bedroom to his daughter's bed.

Victoria crawled quickly back under her comforter as her Father climbed up carefully next to her and opened the book to the first page.

Victoria snuggled against his arm.

"A Mother held her new baby," Gold began like he had for many bedtimes since he first bought this book for his daughter.

"And as she held him she began to rock him back and forth...back and forth...back and forth." He began to rock gently back and forth on the mattress, cradling Victoria close against him as he read.

"And as she rocked him she sang...I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I live, my baby you'll be."

"Sing it Papa!" Victoria interrupted. Gold glanced amusedly at her. "Papa's very tired tonight, Sweetie." He patted her hair. Victoria pouted silently. Gold returned his attention to the story.

"The baby grew...he grew and he grew and he grew!" He read with great expression as he always did. "He grew until he was two years old."

"Like me!" Victoria piped in again. This time Gold chuckled at her. "You're three." He corrected and continued reading.

"He ran around the house...He pulled all the books off the bookshelves...and he pulled all the food out of the refrigerator, and then he took his mother's watch and flushed it down the toilet."

Victoria wrinkled her nose at that bit though she'd heard it numerous times before. "Did I ever do something that bad, Papa?" She asked studying the illustrations on the page as if mesmerized by them.

Gold rolled his eyes at that. "Of course you did. Don't you remember knocking over a shelf in Papa's shop with your play ball yesterday after I told you very specifically not to play around the merchandise?" He dipped down and kissed his daughter affectionately on the head.

Victoria frowned for a minute. "No." She mumbled though she did remember. Gold decided to let it go and continue with the story.

"Sometimes his Mother would say..."This child is driving me crazy!" He poked Victoria in the ribcage playfully as he read the Mother's exclamation aloud.

The three year old squealed and attempted to squirm out of her Father's arm. "But at nighttime...when that two year old was really asleep, the Mother would open up the door to his bedroom, crawl across the floor, and look up over the side of his bed."

Victoria snuggled up to his chest.

"And if that two year old was really asleep, she'd pick up that two year old boy and rock him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And while she rocked him she sang..."

"I'll love you forever," Victoria started to sing softly along with her Father. "I'll like you for always. As long as I live, my baby you'll be." Gold happily flipped the page.

"The little boy grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was nine years old." He read. "And he never wanted to come in for dinner. He never wanted to take his bath. Like another child I know." Gold chuckled and pecked a kiss on the top of Victoria's head.

Victoria squirmed and grabbed the sleeve of his pajamas before snuggling down against his lap. "Keep reading Papa!" She pointed to the page.

Mr. Gold happily complied. "And when Grandma came to visit, he always said bad words. But at night time when he was asleep, the mother quietly opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor and looked up over the side of his bed. And if he was really asleep, she picked up that nine year old boy and she rocked him back and forth, back and forth...back and forth. And as she rocked him she sang..."

...

"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. For as long as I live...my baby you'll be." Mr. Gold quietly flipped the book shut as he finally finished the story, Victoria having long dozed off minutes before while he was reading her favorite part of book.

Carefully without waking her up, Gold moved his daughter gently off of his lap and back under the covers, setting her head gently on the pillows.

"I wuv you Papa." Gold froze with his hand an inch away from her nightstand where he'd left the storybook.

"I love you too." He turned and bent to kiss her softly on the cheek, smiling when she looked back at him through half lidded eyes. "And now it's time for my little girl to go sleep." He started to get up from the bed.

Victoria wiggled around, struggling for a second until she managed to get one arm free from under the sheets. "Wait Papa!"

Gold tried to tuck her back in. "Sweetheart, you need to go to sleep now. It's late." He pleaded. Victoria grabbed his hand.

"But I'm scared to sleep alone. Will you stay with me, Papa? Please?" She blinked at him softly with her large brown eyes. Gold felt his eyebrow twitch.

_My God when she does that she lookys just like.._. Gold quickly shook his head.

"Sweetheart, I told you there are no monsters hiding under your bed. I checked for you already." He used his free hand to stroke her hair comfortingly.

"Please?" Victoria stuck out her lower lip, tightening her grip on her Papa's hand ever so slightly as she saw the reluctance in the older man's eyes.

Gold finally gave in. "All right Victoria, scoot over." He slowly crawled over the mattress to get to the right hand side of the bed, tucking his little girl in again before turning out the light.

"But if I stay with you tonight then you have to promise to help me with something tomorrow at the pawn shop." He smiled and snuggled down against the cushions next to his daughter. "Do we have a deal?" He handed her her baby blankie.

Victoria snuggled up against him again, taking her blankie before rubbing her cheek lovingly against the soft fabric of his pajama top.

"Deal." She moved her thumb into her mouth and shut her eyes yawning as her Father placed his head gently on top of her own.

"Goodnight." Gold wrapped his arm around her and rubbed little circles onto her back to help her sleep faster. "Papa loves you...for always." He whispered into the three year old's ear, unaware that she had already fallen fast asleep, an invisible smile gracing her little cheeks.


End file.
